New Beginnings at Malory Towers
by exilencfc
Summary: My first attempt at a Malory Towers fic. Aiming for Blyton style story lines rather than Blyton style writing. Set in present day using some grandchildren of canon characters
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my first attempt at a Malory Towers fanfic! Apologies for the massive introduction, I promise there's a story too. I've set this story in 2013, 55 years after Darrell and co left Malory Towers (Enid Blyton's books are clearly set in the 50s but no exact years are given so I made some up). Some of the characters are the grand daughters, great grand daughters, great nieces and great nieces of old girls. I've tried to make my story tie in with Blyton's but as I've never read the Felicity sequels it might totally contradict them.**

**I imagine that a school like Malory Towers would have had to expand and change considerably over the years and my story reflects this. I do understand how the system of strating and moving up the school in the books works, I can explain it if anyone wants to know – suffice to say it's the way most British boarding schools used to work. In my story first years all start in September, the following September they become second years (the standard British system, as seen in Harry Potter). Each year group has sixty girls divided into three forms of twenty, five girls from each form live in each tower (again a standard set up). All these extra girls couldn't fit in the original school building so it's now mostly used for accommodation although it also contains the dining hall (one for the school), library, assembly hall, san, head's rooms and various other facilities. Teaching takes place in modern blocks of classrooms. If anything is confusing you please say so, and I'll try to explain.**

**I've mostly opted for a normal story telling style but parts of the story are told as letters or emails between characters. The key student characters are all North Tower first years. There's Darrell's youngest granddaughter Sam, Felicity's oldest great granddaughter Lauren, Alicia's great niece Izzy plus Becky and Jenny.**

**The legal stuff – this story is based on the Malory Towers books by Enid Blyton and uses some of her characters and locations. I claim no credit for their development and no right to the copyright. It's also influenced by Anne Digby's Trebizon books. I am the sole author of this story and the sole creator of my original characters. I claim my rights in accordance.**

26th August 2013

Dear Sam,

You're my youngest grandchild and now you're off to my old school. There's a lot of things I want to say to you and I've decided to say them in a letter so you can keep them to hand. Firstly, and selfishly, I'd like to hear what's going on at my old school – do send me lots of emails won't you.

More importantly Sam I want you to remember why you are being sent to Malory Towers. It's a fine school, you'll get an excellent education and meet people who will be your friends for life. Friends and educational achievement are important but the main thing is that you put as much into Malory Towers as you get out. If you do then you'll come out a smart, brave, trustworthy woman ready to take on the world. And I'll be even prouder of you than I am now.

Love Granny (Darrell Rivers, North Tower 1951-1958)

12th September 2013,

Dear Granny,

Well I promised I'd email you from Malory Towers and now I've been here a week it's a good time to start. I think things have changed a lot since you were here, we don't have any lessons in the main school building now, they're all in the new blocks spread round it. Luckily there are covered walkways so when it rains we won't get too wet! I'm in North Tower of course and so are Lauren and somebody called Izzy who says her great-aunt was your friend Alicia. Was that the one who was always playing tricks?

They're both in my dorm. Apart from them there's Jenny, Francois, Charlotte, Lucia and Becky. Charlotte comes from China and Lucia's from Brazil. We're dorm number 1. Next to us is dorm 2 (well durr) which has seven more first years. So that's sixty altogether in my year, 15 in each tower. It seems a lot. Luckily we're in three forms for classes, come the end of this term we have exams and then setting by ability. So I'd best try and be in the top English set so as not to disgrace you.

Love Sam

21st September 2013,

Dear Granny,

Thank you for all the stories about Alicia and June. We all had a good laugh about it, even Charlotte who says people in China work hard all the time and never play tricks on teachers. Jenny says she's sure she can come up with some good tricks, I can't wait. On the subject of old time Malory Towers, Francois says she has a great aunt who was a teacher here. How crazy is that? She's going to ask her mother for the details. Sadly the aunt is long dead so we won't be able to ask her about your terrible misdeeds.

Anyway enough gossip, I'd better tell you what I've been up to. Well we can't swim in the sea pool any more as the weather has got too cold. Luckily there's a nice pool in the sports centre so we go there once a week. Other week days we play lacrosse. Did you play? Apart from that it's just lessons though most of them are quite good. I've decided I really like science, it's so much more fun here as we get to do experiments and so on.

Love Sam

23rd September 2013,

Dear Sam,

Of course I played lacrosse my girl – you just look up the old records in the library and the sports centre. I wasn't as good as my friend Sally though, she was games captain of the school in the end. Then there was Amanda Chartelow – google her. Alicia was good too and so was June. Do you still get good teas after games? It used to be the best meal of the day. We'd come in cold and hungry and there would be cake and sandwiches and tea waiting for us. Well my love I'm out to lunch today so I must close now. I look forward to hearing from you when you have the time. (They used to make us write home every Sunday. Imagine it, sat in the common room with paper and pen trying to think what to write. You even had to show the sealed envelope to a prefect or a mistress before you posted it)

Love Gran

1st October 2013,

Dear Gran,

Seriously? That's sooo harsh. I'm glad they don't monitor our correspondence. Mind you we don't get games teas either, not unless we're in a match squad anyway. You get teas after matches. Speaking of which I'm in the junior lacrosse team! On the wing because I'm such a fast runner. Becky from my dorm is in the team too. Lauren and Izzy are in the second team. Do say you'll come to some of our matches, I'm attaching the fixture list. There's one at half term so you could come for that, it would give you a good excuse to have a nose around.

Francois' aunt was Mademoiselle Dupont. Do you remember her at all? Maybe she was after your time.

Love Sam.

"Come on Sam, we'll be late for dinner at this rate".

"No we won't, we've got five minutes til the bell goes. But don't worry. I'm coming".

Samantha Barrett, normally called Sam, clicked the shut down button on her laptop, closed the lid and shoved it into her locker which she closed firmly. All the first years kept their valuables in the lockers by their beds, it made sure that nothing could be stolen by any outsider sneaking in whilst they were at lessons or meals.

"Hurry up Sam, I'm starving" complained Sam's cousin Lauren.

"Somehow I doubt it" replied Sam, bouncing off her bed. "Anyway I'm ready now - race you!"

She took off, running light footed out of the dormitory, along the corridor, down the stairs and along the corridor which connected North Tower to the school dining room. Lauren tore after her laughing. The two skidded to a halt at the table reserved for North Tower first formers and took their seats. "See we aren't even last" Sam chided Lauren. "Jenny isn't here yet".

As the bell was ringing a few late comers strode into the dining room, if you weren't inside before the bell stopped you were late. And if you were late you got an order mark. Five order marks got you a detention. Sam had two, Lauren one. Jenny had already accumulated three in less than a month at Malory Towers. As the bell sounded its last note, Jenny sped through the doors. Pulling up in a hurry she walked nonchalantly to the table. "Jennifer Hawley" began Elizabeth Herbert, the prefect in charge of the table, "you were very nearly late".

"Only very nearly though" replied Jenny "I'm sorry Elizabeth. Shall I pour the juice for everyone"? Elizabeth nodded her consent and Jenny began to pour sixteen cups of orange juice from the big metal jug that stood at her end of the table. The others began to pass the food around. It was Friday evening and that meant chips, beans, peas and a choice of fried fish, chicken nuggets or vegetarian sausages. Everybody liked Friday night, normally Malory Towers meals were far more healthy!

"So then, which of you shrimps made it into the lacrosse team?" asked Elizabeth. She herself was not very interested in games but she did try to take a keen interest in the first years she was partly responsible for. "I did" Sam said proudly "so did Becky". Izzy finished her mouthful of fish and cleared her throat "Lauren and I are in the second team".

Elizabeth smiled "excellent. Normally the junior teams are mostly second years so you four have done very well. Of course it means you also get points for the house and form trophies. Two points for North Tower for every match you each play for the school and two for your forms."

"Brilliant" said Sam "we're all in the same form". Each year group at Malory Towers had sixty girls who were divided into three forms of twenty each, there were five girls from each form in every tower. The forms took the names of famous old heads of the school. Sam and co were in Grayling form, named after the longest serving Head of Malory Towers. There was also Tregoning form which was named after the first headmistress and Wilshire form which was named after the first headmaster. At the moment the twenty girls of Grayling form took all their lessons together but next term they would be mixed up with first years from the other forms for English, maths, science and foreign languages, the twenty girls best at each subject being taught together and so on. It was all rather confusing.


	2. Chapter 2

The following morning the four lacrosse players bounded out of bed early. Saturday was a day of luxury, there was no rising bell you just got up when you wanted to and went to breakfast which was laid out til 9.30. But junior lacrosse training started at 9 and, as they wanted to have time to digest breakfast, they got up at 7.45. Everyone else was still asleep apart from Charlotte who looked at them from under her duvet with a bemused expression and muttered something about crazy English girls.

After breakfast they got dressed in their brown Malory Towers tracksuits because it was a chilly morning. Sam was excited, their first game was only thirteen days away and that weekend would be half term. Her parents would be visiting and maybe her grandparents as well. Training began promptly at 9 with a tiring warm up of jogging, sprinting, stretching and press ups. The games mistress in charge of junior lacrosse was Miss Fox who was very good at all games but a hard taskmaster. She did give lots of praise though.

Once they'd warmed up they began to practise lacrosse skills, mostly throwing and catching. Miss Fox hung a paper plate from a tree and told them they all had to hit it with the ball from 10 metres away. None of the first formers could, and only two of the second formers. Miss Fox told them that it wasn't good enough, how could they win a match without being able to pass accurately? She herself had thrown ten balls at the plate, one after the other, and all of them had hit. She made them repeat the exercise and grudgingly admitted that at least they were closer to getting a hit.

Finally she let them play a match, with the first team against the second. Sam thought she would have done better if she hadn't been so tired! She was also very angry because the winger up against her was one of the largest of the second formers. The girl played very hard, she didn't seem to care how she took the ball as long as a foul wasn't called against her. Sam didn't think it was fair to play against anyone like that, especially somebody in your own school. But at least she was getting better at shielding the ball and spinning away from her tackler. By the time 11am came she was exhausted and quite happy to walk slowly back to the sports centre to shower and change.

On Monday morning they had their normal lessons. Grayling One had English first, which happened to be taught by their form mistress Miss Jones. After that was history with Mr Grey. After break they had science with Mrs Taylor and maths with Mr Duff. There was only one lesson in the afternoon, which was French taught by Monsieur Valon. Lessons finished at three and were followed by voluntary sports and hobbies. Dinner was at six and then there was prep until 8.30. The first form went to bed at 9.30 except on Fridays and Saturdays when they didn't have to go til 11.

This Monday was a bit special though. On Sunday evening the headmistress had made an announcement. "I'm afraid Mr Duff has been in a car accident. He will be quite alright soon but I'm afraid we have lost him for the rest of the term". She waited well mutterings spread round the dining hall, Mr Duff was one of the most popular teachers at Malory Towers. He was young, his lessons were fun, and he was very kind and fair. Everyone would miss him. After a minute or so the headmistress continued "now fortunately we have been able to secure a supply teacher for the rest of term. Mrs Bowing will be joining us tomorrow".

It so happened that the third years had maths first thing on Mondays, the lucky people. In the top group, which Mr Duff normally taught, was Sam's older sister Pippa. At break time she came across to talk to her sister who was chatting to a group of her friends in a North Tower corridor. "You guys will have some fun with Mrs Bowing, or Mrs Boring as we call her. She droned on and on for the entire lesson with no idea what was going on. In the end nobody was listening to her, we were passing notes or reading. Just as well actually, I hadn't got round to doing my geography prep".

The first years looked at each other. "Sounds like it won't be much fun" said Sam "I think I'll put Harry Potter in my bag so I have something to do". Charlotte scowled at her "lessons are for learning, even if the teachers are boring". Lauren shrugged "It's only for half a term, I doubt that doing no work will permanently cripple our mathematical careers". Izzy couldn't resist this opening "well maybe not yours Lauren, you're terrible at maths under every circumstance".

Lauren was about to say something very rude when Jenny interrupted her. "You guys have no imagination. What we need is some real fun. You leave everything to me". She was smirking all through science but refused to tell anyone about her plan. As they crossed South Court to go to maths she dragged back Lauren, Sam and Izzy by their sleeves "now listen you lot just do what I say and we'll be fine. By the end of this term we'll be known as Malory Towers finest set of pranksters ever. But keep it a secret for now, we can't trust the girls from the other towers to keep quiet".

They trooped into the maths classroom, which like all the classrooms in New School held four rows of five desks. The four North Tower girls always sat together at the back, along with Tess who was in South Tower and had been to the same prep school as Jenny. She recognized the glint in her friend's eyes. "What are you plotting Jennifer Hawley, I know that look". Jenny smiled at her. "Absolutely nothing. Just look as innocent as possible".

Mrs Bowing waited until everyone had taken her place and then began to read the register. Jenny handed a note over to Lauren and Sam, it read 'answer for each other's names'. Smiling broadly, Lauren answered when the teacher read Samantha Barrett off the register. The real Samantha Barrett concentrated on not giggling. The rest of the form guessed that something was up and sat as quiet and innocent as church mice, nobody wanted to give the game away – it would make them very unpopular.

After this there was no further excitement until Mrs Bowing reached Jennifer Hawley. There was no answer. Mrs Bowing repeated the name more loudly, looking around. If there were twenty girls in the class and twenty in the room Jennifer Hawley must be here. Suddenly Jenny jumped upright, as though awakened from a trance. "I'm sorry Miss, I completely didn't hear you. You see everyone calls me Kipper".

"Kipper?" repeated Mrs Bowing sceptically.

"Oh yes" said Jenny earnestly "It's because of a birthmark on my leg which looks really prominent. It's just a nickname but it's really stuck. Even the teachers use it. Well only in class, not when they walk to each other".

Mrs Bowing was not that stupid, she looked suspiciously at 'Kipper' and then at the girl next to her. "Is this true Samantha"? No answer, until Tess kicked Lauren on the ankle. "Oh yes" said Lauren earnestly "strange as it sounds".

After this there was no further excitement. Mrs Bowing completed the register and then began to question the girls about the topics they had covered. She seemed to be very conscientious about calling everyone by her name. Finally she turned to begin writing a series of problems on the board. Jenny whispered to Izzy and Tess "quick swop places, keep your own names though". The two silently exchanged seats, grateful for the soft floor covering which never made a scraping sound.

Finally Mrs Bowing turned round. "Now then, who can solve this equation? Perhaps you Tess"? She was looking at Izzy who stared back at her looking vaguely annoyed. There was a silence. Finally Tess spoke "I'm Tess". She then went to the board and solved the problem. Mrs Bowing smiled at her and then told her to sit down. Then she wrote another equation which she called on one of the East Tower girls to solve. Finally she turned to the board again, the East Tower girl had made lots of mistakes so she would be busy for a long time. Jenny indicated that Tess and Izzy should return to their original seats.

Mrs Bowing might have heard something because her attention was again on the back row. "I'm not sure you girls are concentrating properly at the back. We'll have you up to the board this time please Izzy". She was looking at Tess who indignantly protested that not only was she not called Izzy, she had also solved one problem already. "Of course" said Mrs Bowing, looking rather confused. "We'll have Kipper then". Fortunately Jenny was excellent at maths.


	3. Chapter 3

Grayling One did not have maths again until Wednesday. On Tuesday one of the girls from West Tower came to find Jenny at break. "You've had your fun" she told her. "Now it's our turn. You keep up the name game and we'll provide some physical comedy". Jenny happily agreed to this, feeling that it might be better for the North Tower crew to not have too much attention on them.

It so happened that the classroom that had been Mr Duff's had a wide windowsill on which spare textbooks were stored. Two desks were positioned against this window. Both housed West Tower girls. Clare, who had talked to Jenny, sat immediately in front of Sam (the real Sam). In front of her sat Grace, a very intelligent girl from Singapore who was nowhere near as innocent as some of the teachers thought.

It was rather a warm day for mid October, but not nearly warm enough for the window to be open. None the less, Zara complained that she was hot and asked if the windows could be opened. Hannah and Melody supported her. Mrs Bowing grudgingly agreed that the window could be opened. She then began a long and droning explanation of quadratic equations which nobody listened to. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. In came one of the gardeners holding a stack of maths textbooks. "Found these in the rose bush down below" he explained.

Mrs Bowing took them and placed them on her desk. She looked at Grace and Clare and asked them if they had thrown the books out of the window. The two girls denied this most indignantly. The lesson proceeded. Sam smiled as Lauren gained her a merit mark for solving a difficult problem at the board. Of course she would have to find a way to repay her cousin but it shouldn't be too hard. There was another knock at the door. This time it was the teacher who had the classroom on the ground floor. She too was carrying a stack of textbooks. Clare and Grace again denied involvement. Hannah and Zara said they kept being hit by gusts of wind which they supposed must also be responsible for the books being blown off the windowsill.

Mrs Bowing placed the books on her desk, shut the window, and told Grace and Clare to shift their desks sideways away from it. They were heard to complain that she was being unfair. The lesson proceeded. The front most desk on the window side of the room was occupied by Melody. Whilst Mrs Bowing was distracted by Hannah who was seemingly hopeless at maths but an expert at breaking board pens so that they leaked ink everywhere; Melody produced a riding crop with which she silently slid the window open. A stack of books toppled out and the window was again closed.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. Mrs Bowing was quite angry now, fed up with being interrupted. She flung the door open to reveal the teacher from downstairs who silently handed her yet another pile of textbooks. Mrs Bowing slammed these down on her desk and advanced menacingly on Clare and Grace. "You two. How dare you damage school property in this way? I'm appalled at you. Detention".

"That's not fair" said Clare indignantly "how could it have been us? We can't even reach the window from here".

Grace sniffed "please don't Miss. I swear it wasn't me and Dad will be furious if he finds out I've been in trouble. You don't know what he's like".

"Anyway" said Zara "you know it can't have been them. The window was closed all along. You'd have heard them opening it. Those books must have blown out with the others. Or maybe the second form threw them out earlier, they're always making trouble".

Mrs Bowing looked from one face to a next. The entire class seemed genuinely perplexed by the mystery of the falling books. Perhaps it really had been the wind. "Very well then, there will be no punishment. But the windows will be closed from now on". Just to be on the safe side she gave the first form extra homework!

6th October 2013

Dear Sam,

Of course I'll come for half term! It's a great chance to see all four of you. Besides which, it is a few years since I came to Malory Towers. And of course I love lacrosse! Your grandfather won't be coming; he gets fed up with all the Malory Towers stuff so I'm sending him to play golf in Spain for a few days – how dull. I shall get the train down on Thursday, come to your game on Friday and then on Saturday we can all go out together. Do remember to tell your mother if you want to bring any guest with you. Then on Sunday I shall insist on going to the school chapel service and seeing all the displays. How frightfully grandmotherly of me.

Looking forward to seeing you love,

Granny


	4. Chapter 4

Thursday. Tomorrow was the junior team's first competitive lacrosse fixture of the year. And Sam's granny would be coming to watch! Her parents couldn't make it sadly, they were busy with work and couldn't get down to Cornwall until the following morning. Hopefully they'd arrive in time for the game. She wasn't sure about all the other relatives that would be coming and she didn't care.

There was only one cloud in Sam's sky. Miss Fox had made it clear that the twelve people playing tomorrow would be the twelve who did best in training, not necessarily the twelve people she had initially named as the first team. She'd been mixing the two groups up in practise matches all the time and taking notes whilst they did the drills. Sam was good at the drills, but she was worried about one of the second team wingers taking her place. Sophie, the girl who kept flattening her, was nearly as fast, equally skilled and far stronger.

Now it was their last practise game, as the two teams lined up Sam eyed Sophie nervously. The big girl had a ferocious glare on her face, it was clear she desperately wanted to make the team. Miss Fox blew her whistle and the game started. It was fast and furious. Lauren, who was first home for the second team scored twice. The first team defenders were despondent, especially the goalkeeper who was looking very worried. The problem for Lauren was that the first team had scored four goals, Becky had got three of them.

Now the seconds were attacking again, Sam watched Izzy streak down the pitch and ran after her. Izzy shot from quite a long distance and the goal keeper made an easy save. She threw the ball out as far as far as the centre who began to run down the pitch looking for a pass. Sam checked her run, making some space because Sophie wasn't as agile. The centre saw her and threw out the ball. Sam caught it and turned down field. Just as she reached her full speed, something, someone cannoned into the side of her. Sam was aware of falling very fast, there was mud in her mouth grass in her eyes and pain. Then there was nothing.

"Tough shot Barrett, come on get up" Miss Fox glanced down at the girl at her feet and then turned to the big second year who looked very embarrassed. "I'm shocked at you Sophie Wentworth. I'm shocked. If this was a game you'd get a red card. You're either incredibly clumsy or far too violent for something that's supposed to be non- contact. I can't trust you to be part of this team. Go and get changed and go back to your tower".

Sophie turned on her heel and walked away, her eyes shining brightly. Meanwhile everyone else had clustered around Sam.

"Come on Sam you lazy git" said Becky "you can get up now".

Lauren shook her cousin gently by the shoulder. There was no response.

"I think she might actually be hurt" said Izzy, sounding scared.

Miss Fox gently pushed her way to the front and turned Sam over. She took one looked and then whipped out her mobile which she handed to one of the second years "call an ambulance. Hurry".

There were lights. Far too many lights. The ground was too warm and too dry. Funny lacrosse pitch. She'd lost her stick! So she'd also lost the ball. Miss Fox wouldn't be very impressed. Probably pick somebody else now. That might not be a bad thing, Sam's head ached and her hand felt funny. Miss Fox was talking now, telling her she was dropped probably. Her voice sounded funny.

"Come on Sam wake up".

Sam opened one eye and then shut it again as the pitch, or room, or whatever it was swam around her. She tried the other eye. That wasn't Miss Fox, it was…

"Granny, what are you…"

"I was watching training dear, you were doing very well"

"Was? I'm doing great. Where's my stick?"

"Sam dear"

"Where's my… what's going on here?"

"Sam dear there was an accident. You haven't been on the pitch for a while now"

"So where?"

"In hospital"

Sam pondered this prospect. It sounded quite reasonable, after all she certainly wasn't on the pitch any more and wherever she was it was brightly lit and smelt funny. She decided to try and open both her eyes.

"That's better" said Darrell, her worried face coming gradually into focus. "You got body-checked dear and went flying. You landed on your head."

"Did I? How dumb of me. But then why…"

"You broke your wrist too".

"Guess I'm not playing tomorrow then"

Sam had never experienced a Malory Towers half term before but she was still sure she was having the worst one ever. On Friday when she should have been fidgeting in lessons and then playing in the lacrosse match she was in hospital. On Saturday when she should have been out enjoying herself she was in hospital. On Sunday, when she might have watched the displays, or gone out with friends, or lounged around… in hospital. Admittedly her parents and Pippa came to see her, along with various aunts and uncles and Miss Fox. Miss Fox was a bit tiring when you were in full health and positively exhausting when you weren't but she did tell Sam that she'd definitely have been in the team were it not for the accident.

Sam had begun to wonder if she might get to stay in hospital a few days longer and so get out of some lessons but this was not to be. On Sunday evening she was discharged and driven back to school by her parents who saw her up to the dormitory.

"SAM!" called Lauren in delight "hooray, you're back again!"

"Are you ok?" asked Lucia. The seven occupants of dormitory one stared unabashed at their friend who sported a huge black eye, a cast on her wrist and a sling.

"I'll live" said Sam firmly. She flopped down on her bed. "So anyway, apart from all the half term excitement what did I miss"?

Becky and Izzy looked at each other. "Miss Fox threw Sophie off the team" said Becky. "She was furious with her for tackling like that. She said she was a liability".

"Sounds about right to me" muttered Sam.

"Sophie's really upset though" said Izzy. "I heard she was crying all weekend".

"Shouldn't be such a clumsy oaf then" said Lauren.

Charlotte frowned "it is a shame for everyone. Sophie is a crazy English girl who loves lacrosse. And her friends will be sad for her".

They dorm mates looked at each other uncomfortably. Becky changed the subject rather hastily. "So anyway Sam, how long til you're ok"?

Sam sighed "no more games this term although I might be out of plaster at the start of December. I should also keep quiet for a week or so until my head recovers"

Jenny frowned "we'd best lay off Mrs Boring for this week then".


	5. Chapter 5

Sam was finding life very boring. No lacrosse, no swimming, no badminton, no riding, her dorm mates had made an effort to be quiet. Her re-appearance had been rather a sensation and she had got very bored of everyone crowding around her to ask questions. But now she felt quite lonely. The only thing that seemed to be left was lessons, in particular studying for the end of term exams which would decide which sets she was in. Sam supposed she should be grateful for the extra study time but really she wasn't. Instead she found herself in the library reading some of the novels her grandmother had written. Darrell Rivers (she always published under her maiden name) had over 20 published novels. She'd written a series of books about life at a boarding school. Sam settled down to read them, wondering how much was true. There was a horrible girl called Linda in them, selfish and uncaring. Surely that couldn't be based on a real person. Sam didn't know anybody like that.

Sam also found herself wishing that Mrs Bowing actually were a competent maths teacher. She wanted to get into the top maths group but it seemed unlikely as she spent most of maths lessons half asleep and the rest wondering what plots were afoot. The East Tower girls had taken to swopping seats during the lesson, Mrs Boring was very confused when people kept popping up in unexpected places. The only good news was that she still hadn't realised that Sam and Lauren had swopped identities. Either she hadn't noticed Sam's bruises and cast or she had no interest what so ever in school gossip. Or both. Sadly she did know the difference between Izzy and Tess now.

Playing tricks on poor Mrs Bowing was getting quite competitive. Only the South Tower girls (apart from Tess) hadn't done anything yet. Surely they would, unless they wanted to be known as the lamest members of Grayling One. Ten days after Sam's accident they struck. It was Monday again, when the first years had maths just before lunch. At breakfast and break time the South Tower girls circulated amongst the members of the form. They told everyone to show up as normal but to make sure they had their geography books with them. They should get these out of their bags at the start of the lesson and lay them down on top of their maths books.

The science lesson was disrupted when, ten minutes before the end, one of the South Tower girls announced that she had a headache. The teacher allowed her to go the san for an aspirin, saying one other South Tower girl could go with her. When the North Tower girls arrived in the maths room (which had been empty whilst they were at science) they found that it had been transformed. The maths textbooks had been placed on the floor behind the rear row of desks. The board had been wiped clean. There was a globe on the desk and a map on the wall (Mrs Boring liked the walls plain and undecorated). Everyone giggled as they sat down. The plan was obvious.

Mrs Bowing arrived slightly late, having been delayed en-route by a third former whom the South Tower girls had enlisted to provide a distraction. She swept into the room and then looked around in surprise. These were her pupils but they were not in the right place. This was a geography classroom. How stupid of her. She glanced outside, but the corridors of the New School were all much alike and she could not tell if she were definitely in the right place or not.

"How strange" she said "I was sure that we had a lesson together now".

"No we don't miss" piped up Louise "this is our geography lesson".

"You must have the day wrong" suggested Jess helpfully "we have maths fourth lesson on Monday".

"This is Monday" said Mrs Bowing in confusion.

"Are you sure?" said Jess very politely "because it seems more likely that one person should be wrong than twenty"

"It does rather" agreed Mrs Bowing who couldn't fault Jess' grasp of probability. "Oh dear I feel quite lost. I had better go and see what is happening".

She tottered out of the room. As soon as she was gone the South Tower girls leapt into action. The maths textbooks were returned to their places, the globe was hidden in a cupboard and the map was taken down and shoved on the floor at the back of the room. Everyone put their geography books away.

Mrs Boring did not come back. She spent the entire lesson wandering in confusion round the New School. The evil little first formers giggled silently and voted the South Tower trick to be the best yet.

The tricks played on Mrs Bowing could not succeed indefinitely. Sooner or later they were bound to be caught out. Even if she herself didn't catch them (which seemed unlikely), there was always a chance of some other mistress walking into the room whilst one was in progress. This might happen accidentally but it could also be that members of the form had been over heard discussing the next trick. Or maybe somebody would grass.

The blow fell in mid-November. Mrs Reeve, the North Tower House mistress was the senior maths mistress. She came into the classroom whilst Jenny was at the board solving a problem which, as normal, she did effortlessly. "Well done Kipper that was excellent. In fact you can have a merit mark". Jenny sat down smiling.

"Well done" said Mrs Reeve "but tell me Mrs Bowing, why do you call the girl Kipper?"

Mrs Bowing shrugged "because I'm told that's the name she goes by. It's what the other girls called her". This statement was true, because in Mrs Bowing's presence Jenny was always called Kipper. When Mrs Bowing wasn't around however she was called Jenny.

"I wasn't aware of that" said Mrs Reeve, looking suspiciously at the North Tower girls. "It isn't something I hear often is it Lauren?"

"That isn't Lauren" said Mrs Bowing, wandering why Mrs Reeve couldn't tell two members of her own house apart "that's Samantha".

"I can assure you that Samantha is the one on the other end of the row with her wrist in a cast. It's a handy distinguishing feature".

Mrs Bowing looked suspiciously from girl to girl "you've been playing a trick on me haven't you"? Then she looked around the class "all of you in fact have been playing tricks on me. The textbooks falling out of the window, pretending you had a geography lesson rather than maths. You are wicked, wicked children".

Before anyone could protest Mrs Reeve, who was a shrewd judge of her pupils, decided that there was a surfeit of guilty looking girls.

"That does seem to have been the case Mrs Bowing. Really girls, I'm surprised that you could be so childish. And so cruel. You will all spend Saturday afternoon in detention".

From that day onwards, Jennifer Hawley was saddled with the nickname Kipper.

The following day the North Tower first years were lingering over their lunch. "It isn't fair" said Sam "an all afternoon detention is far too harsh for a couple of pranks"

"I don't see how they knew it was all pranks" said Izzy. "I can see how they detected us but talking about leaping to conclusions over everything else".

"Maybe somebody grassed" suggested Natasha. She was the only Grayling One North Tower girl to live in dormitory two, which left her on the edge of things a bit. She didn't really mind this as her best friend was Jess in South Tower whom she sat with in most lessons.

"Surely nobody would" said Lauren indignantly.

"I don't know" mused Jenny "it sounds quite likely to me. Who could it have been?"

"Maybe somebody from East Tower" suggested Sam "Their prank was about the least exciting. Perhaps they were jealous? And Mrs Boring didn't say anything about it so maybe they only grassed on the rest of the form".

"Maybe it was that Sophie" suggested Lucia softly. "She is a clumsy oath but she loves lacrosse and now she is off the team because of hurting Sam. As she can't have her fun perhaps she is getting revenge by taking away yours"?

"Yeah cos I'm having the time of my life here" said Sam scowling. "If she wants to swop no lacrosse for no games at all, lots of pain, and not being able to do anything she's quite welcome".

"There's no way to tell" said Lauren firmly "we'll just have to keep an eye on everyone remotely suspicious until we find out what happened".


	6. Chapter 6

**OK guys I would really appreciate some reviews, or even just an acknowledgement that somebody is reading this stuff. I'd also like to take the opportunity to apologise to the real Mrs Bowing who I think was called Mrs Parsonage though we called her Mrs Parsnips - yes almost all the stuff that happens in Mrs Bowing's lessons really happened whilst I was at school. Mrs Parsnips wasn't the only victim, just the main one. The classroom disguising incident didn't really happen but there was a day when Mrs Gray forgot to come to our lesson, she already knows i'm sorry for a certain thing that happened between us. **

Lauren's plan was an excellent one, but somebody had other ideas. By Saturday the entire school had heard that Grayling one was in disgrace. As they trooped off to their detention after lunch everyone laughed and cheered. The North Tower first formers in the other forms had made a point of discussing all the things they were going to do in the afternoon.

Only one person at Malory Towers was less happy than the unfortunate first formers – Sophie. Somehow a story had started that she had tipped of Mrs Reeves. Sophie was very upset about this, but she knew she would have a great deal of difficulty convincing everyone she was innocent. Meanwhile many people ignored her and she knew they were discussing her behind her back. She was very unhappy, so much so that she was pondering begging her parents to let her leave Malory Towers at the end of the term.

As they walked up to their maths classroom the first formers discussed who could be responsible for this latest development. "Well I didn't do it" said Jenny decisively. "I don't think any of you did either".

"Definitely not" Izzy agreed. "Nobody in North Tower would be that mean".

"Well Sam would have a good excuse" suggested Natasha "But I don't think she's the guilty one".

"I'm not" agreed Sam "but I won't pretend I'm sorry about it. If I have to suffer all term I don't see why Sophie shouldn't".

"There's only one thing for it" declared Lauren "we have to find out who the sneak was and who started the rumours about Sophie".

"But what if Sophie was the sneak?" asked Natasha "perhaps she confessed to somebody and they started the rumours".

"Also a possibility" admitted Lauren, scratching her head as she often did when puzzled.

When they arrived in the classroom they found Mrs Reeves who was armed with an assortment of buckets, mops, dusters and other cleaning materials! "Good afternoon girls" she said in a voice that rather implied that it wasn't. "You all owe a debt to Malory Towers and we've decided that you should take on the cleaning jobs that the staff never have enough time to do. The girls looked at each other in horror. Mrs Reeves was very efficient and would not even let them choose their own jobs. Sam got the job of polishing the wooden tops of the desk as this was fairly easy to do one handed. Izzy was to wash the blackboard until it was perfectly clean. Natasha had to wash the skirting boards of the classroom. Hannah and Jess had to clean the insides of the cupboards. Other form members got similar jobs elsewhere.

Lauren found herself picking bit of old blue tack off the walls on one side of the corridor whilst Zara did the other. Poor Jenny was told to tidy out the cupboard where spare maths materials were stored. "Kippers are kept in dark places until they mature" explained Mrs Reeves. This was a very hard job, the books were heavy and the cupboard thick with dust which made Jenny sneeze. Even when Melody came to help her the job was no easier, in some ways it was harder as there wasn't really room for both of them in the cupboard.

"Was it really Sophie who grassed on us?" asked Melody.

"How do I know?" asked Jenny irritably.

"I thought you were a real mine of gossip Kipper" said Melody playfully. "I was sure you'd know".

"Well I don't" said Jenny "have you got any ideas?"

"Not really" admitted Melody "I mean I don't think it was anyone in my tower. Certainly not Grace or Clare, they were trying to come up with more tricks to play on Mrs Boring. I suppose it could have been Hannah or Zara but I don't think it was either of them".

"We were trying to think of more tricks" said Jenny, following Melody's logic, "and I bet Jess and Louise were too so it probably wasn't them. Maybe it was somebody in East Tower"?

"That does make sense" agreed Melody, dusting dirt off her jumper. "But you don't sound like you think it was Sophie".

"I don't" said Jenny. "I don't think she's spiteful like that. Just clumsy".

"Maybe it wasn't anyone, maybe they overheard people talking or Mrs Reeves just guessed. She's awfully smart, I'm glad I'm not in her house".

"We're learning to be more cunning" said Jenny "she won't catch us in her net next time or my name isn't Kipper".

"Fighting talk" laughed Melody.

The sleuthing was not successful. The girls from dorm one enlisted the help of their dorm mates but nobody could find any information at all. Some of the girls from the other houses were investigating too but they were having no more success. There were however some compensations. For one thing Sam was finding it an excellent distraction from her boring, games free, life. She even spent one PE lesson looking for clues which was totally unsuccessful.

Although the sleuthing completely failed to meet its original aims it did bear fruit in other areas. For one thing Natasha was becoming far closer to the other North Tower girls in Grayling One. Sam was quite surprised at how smart Natasha was, she always seemed to have good ideas about who the culprits might be. Sam was also growing closer to Kipper, it was fun to use her spare time to think of more pranks even if there didn't seem to be any opportunity to try them out. Izzy was good company too, she had a sharp tongue which was always fun. And as for Lauren… Sam had never realised how organised and practical her cousin was.

There were other useful discoveries too. Izzy discovered what combination the kitchen lock used. Sam found proof that Monsieur Valon was dying his hair. Lauren insisted that the locked door in the North Tower laundry room must lead directly into the Headmistress' rooms. Izzy claimed to have spent the night in the giant laundry basket into which South Tower girls placed their clothes to go to the laundry. They knew the schedule the cleaners worked too, what day the bin men came and the names of all the gardeners. They just didn't know who had betrayed the tricksters or blamed Sophie. Then things started to happen again


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks for the reviews. And the tips on dialogue writing, it isn't something I do much of – most of my writing is academic stuff, plus a bit of RP which only involves my character speaking. OK an explanation of how MT works in the books…**

**The situation in British boarding schools used to be that, rather than all first years starting in September, they could start at the beginning of any term. It appears that a girl can start at MT the term after her twelth birthday. Then, rather than spending a fixed amount of time in each form, you moved up when you outgrew the work of your current form. In MT this is slightly modified by age.**

**This system is easiest to see in Fifth Form; the main requirement for entering the fifth form seems to be passing the school cert but Gwen is moved up despite failing because she is so old. Conversely, Janet is kept in the fifth rather than going up to the sixth because she is so young. Since school cert examinations were only held once or twice a year (I'm not sure whether there were examinations in January as well as in the summer) MT probably only moved pupils into the fifth form in September and they probably stayed there for one year before moving into the sixth form and staying there for one year.**

**The system is most confusing in the earlier books because the composition of the lower forms is most unstable. It seems that most girls spend at least 4 terms in the first form and many are there for five. At a guess Katherine moved into the second form in Darrell's second term so that by the time Darrell moved into the second form Katherine was moving into the third. Very smart girls such as Ellen (and presumably Janet) can move up more quickly.**

**One of the problems with MT is that is doesn't really adhere to this system - Darrell's year group actually ends up too stable, Alicia shouldn't be in the same form as Darrell all the time as she is several months older and clearly wouldn't be kept down for lack of ability. This is probably what makes MT so confusing. If you do want to see the traditional boarding school system in action try reading _Tom Brown's Schooldays_ or _The Loom of Youth_. Anyway enough with the history lesson, on with the story**

As November slipped by Sam began to wonder if the culprit might actually be a girl from North Tower. It was a horrible thought but it deserved consideration. She didn't think the girls in dorm two could be involved, after all it was nothing to do with any of them except Natasha. She could rule out Kipper too, she was one of the ring leaders of the whole thing so there was no reason why she would have told on everybody.

Could Izzy be responsible? Sam knew that June and Alicia had both done some nasty things whilst they were at Malory Towers and it was possible that Izzy shared their faults. Besides which perhaps she might be jealous of the way Kipper was the leader of their group. On the other hand Izzy was so forthright with her opinions that Sam couldn't imagine her doing anything underhand. She just didn't seem the type to be a sneak.

Perhaps it was Charlotte. There was no doubt that she didn't like games, which made her stick out in the dormitory and she didn't approve of tricks either. So she might have wanted to see her dorm mates punished. Charlotte was definitely a possibility. Perhaps Francois too, she didn't like games either. But games didn't have much to do with it, apart from the Sophie business. Francois was quite sly in Sam's opinion, but she also liked tricks. Maybe she was jealous that Grayling form had more fun?

How about Lucia? She certainly didn't like Sophie much, and it might have been her spreading the rumours. But Sam couldn't see why she'd have told Mrs Reeve about the tricks. Unless of course she was trying to curry favour with the house mistress. But there was no need for that because Mrs Reeves was kind and fair and probably wouldn't fall for any young charmer anyway. Lucia didn't seem the type to waste time sucking up to somebody she didn't need to suck up to.

Becky. Now Becky definitely had a motive for spreading the rumours about Sophie. Becky was a lacrosse fanatic and desperately wanted Malory Towers to win, she must be angry with Sophie for weakening the team by injuring Sam. But why on earth would she be the sneak?

That only left one possibility, and it wasn't one Sam wanted to think about. But one night she did lie thinking about it whilst the girl in question slept soundly in the next bed. Lauren her own cousin. Not a close cousin of course, but her great grandmother was Granny's sister and Sam knew the two old women were close. She knew they still carried the values they had learnt at Malory Towers which certainly didn't include sneaking and telling tales. But Lauren was ambitious and it was increasingly clear that she could be quite ruthless.

That evening she had burst into the dining hall practically dancing. "Guess what everyone. Foxy picked me for the team. I'm playing tomorrow". The North Tower first formers gathered round her to cheer loudly, Lauren had been a second team player since the teams were first picked but now she had a chance in the first team. "What position are you playing then?" demanded Izzy.

"Wing" said Lauren smugly "because I'm so fast and skilled".

"But wing is Sam's place" said Lucia. Exactly thought Sam. It's my place and I could cope with losing it but for my own cousin to take it and be happy about it.

Lauren shrugged. "Sam can't play this term. Next term I bet she'll be on the team too, she's far better than Mary"

"What about Sophie?" asked Kipper mildly.

Lauren snorted derisively "Sophie's history now Jenny, just deal with it, I can't see why you always stick up for her. You're looking at the future of Malory Towers lacrosse".

She was standing next to Sam but Sam felt that she might as well have been stood on the far side of the room. Before she could say anything, Lauren had skipped down to the far end of the table and taken the seat next to Becky.

"Now look" said Lucia quietly "she goes to sit by Becky who will be captain next year. No care for you Sam".

No Lauren didn't seem to care about her. But that was a long way from grassing on everyone else and Sam couldn't see why she would have. On the other hand it was clear she wanted Sophie out of her way for good and that she didn't care who got hurt in the process. Plus there was the undeniable fact that Mrs Reeve had looked to her to tell the truth about the Jenny/Kipper thing. Maybe Lauren was jealous of Kipper? After all if Sam was going to suspect Izzy for that reason then it was reason enough to suspect Lauren too. Sam turned over, moaning as she rolled onto her injured wrist. She moved her head onto a cool spot of pillow and tried to sleep. Surely Lauren couldn't be the person responsible for all of this mess.

The following morning she found herself walking to the first lesson of the day with Natasha. The lesson was Latin and classes took place in the furthest reaches of New School which meant you could have a good long chat on the way over. "I'm very worried" confessed Sam "I can think of good reason why the North Tower Girls could be the sneak?"

"Really?" Natasha sounded worried "everyone"?

"Well not the girls in your dormitory" admitted Sam "but everyone in mine".

"That's a relief" said Natasha "I think you should keep your eye on Lucia".

"Why her"?

"Because she is trying to turn you against Lauren. Saying she's taken your place in the team and she doesn't care about you. She's just trying to direct attention away from herself".

Sam hadn't thought of that. She had thought Lucia's concerns were totally genuine. But Natasha did have a point. Sam decided she would tackle Lucia as soon as possible. Her opportunity came that evening, the lacrosse match had been an away one, and Becky and Lauren had not yet returned when the girls went to their dormitory to collect their stuff for prep.

"Why did you say that about Lauren?"

"Say what about her?"

"That she's taken my team place and she doesn't care about me"

"Because it's true".

Sam looked around the other girls in the room. Izzy seemed quite shocked at the turn of events but Kipper was nodding grimly. Francois and Charlotte looked non-committal. Finally Francois spoke. "It is true. Lauren was very uncaring. Maybe she does not mean it, maybe she has a plan". Sam stared at Lucia, who stared back unabashed.

Finally Lucia spoke "I was not turning you against her. I said what I saw. But I think somebody has turned you against ME Sam and I…"

The door flew open and Natasha came in "you guys should make less noise, we can hear you in the corridor. At this rate there will be a mistress up here to see what's going on. Anyway you'll be late for prep at this rate, hurry up".

Before she could say more she was barged out of the way by Jenny who bounced into the room followed by Becky. Both were grinning broadly.

"We won, we won" chanted Lauren. "We won 4-1, Becky got three goals and I got the other. Like I said, this is the future of Malory Towers lacrosse". Lauren glanced around the room and guessed what was going on "oh you guys aren't still worrying about the sneak are you? We're never going to figure out who it was. I reckon we should drop it".

Lucia looked pointedly at Sam.

The first day of December came. Sam had been looking forward to this day very much, It was a Thursday and she was going to miss the afternoon lessons so she could go to hospital. Most people would not welcome a hospital visit but Sam was really hoping that this would be the day her cast came off. Mrs Reeve drove her to the hospital and then went off to do some shopping, telling Sam she'd pick her up later. Sam had an x-ray and then, to her joy, the cast was cut off. She was given a bandage to support her arm which had gone weak from being out of use for so long. She had a list of exercises to do. When she went back out to the car park she found Mrs Reeve munching her way through a packet of biscuits "oh hello Sam, I see it went well in there. Hop in then and we'll go back to school. You might as well finish the biscuits".

Sam sat back in the car munching the biscuits and enjoying the weak December sunshine. She looked sidelong at the house mistress, wondering whether she dared ask her who the sneak was. Of course Mrs Reeve might be very angry to be asked but there was a chance she might exonerate Lauren and that would be worth a lot to Sam. Finally, just as the car turned into the Malory Towers driveway she plucked up her courage. "Mrs Reeve, I was wondering how you found out about the tricks we were playing on Mrs Bowing. If somebody told you about them". Mrs Reeve glanced at her in surprise.

"Somebody told me. But I won't tell you who. I don't really care for sneaks, they aren't much better than bullies".

"So was what we did bullying then?"

"Yes in my eyes anyway. Maybe you're too young to see things the way I see them".


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the slow progress! I've been obsessing over the Olympics and also having some writing trouble. I know what's goingt o happen but getting it to happen is proving somewhat tricky. Thank you for all the reviews, very much appreciated.**

By the time they arrived at the school it had grown quite dark. It was a cold evening and few girls were around, all having opted to spend the time before dinner in the warm dormitories or common rooms. Mrs Reeve dropped Sam by the main entrance and drove off to the car park. Sam trudged through the great wooden front doors, which always made her feel like she was entering a castle. Except of course that only kings and queens and princes and princes and nobles came and went through the front doors of castle and not somebody so down-trodden as she seemed to be.

It was quite dark in the hallway, the main lights had been switched off leaving only the portrait lights illuminating the pictures of the past headmistresses and masters. It was nearly silent apart from the sound of fast footsteps, some girl on her way down from the library. The girl arrived at the foot of the stairs and, as though sensing Sam's presence, turned towards her. It was Sophie.

"Hello Sam" she said awkwardly "I see you've got the cast off then".

"Hello Sophie" said Sam coldly. "I have just returned from the hospital and am finally rid of the thing. Of course I won't be doing any more games this term and possibly not next term either".

"I am sorry, honestly I am"

"Really? If you're so sorry why did you spoil all the fun I had left by telling Mrs Reeve about all our pranks"

"WHAT?" cried Sophie in confusion. "I can promise you that wasn't me Sam. Truly it wasn't. I'm so ashamed about hurting you as much as I did, I wish I could make it up to you. I certainly wouldn't do anything else to hurt you".

"Really?" said Sam sceptically. "Because if you do want to help me then you could try and find out who it was who told on us".

"I'll try" said Sophie "I hate sneaks and, even if I didn't, I am fed up with being blamed".

At that moment the bell began to ring for dinner. The two girls headed out into the court and, by some unspoken agreement, took paths that led around it in opposite directions rather than cutting straight across to the dinning hall entrance. Sam was quite happy to blend in with the North Tower crowd and especially with her fellow first years. It was a good dinner, pasta with a sauce of mushroom or bolognaese sauce, and Sam decided not to disrupt it by telling everyone about the conversations she had had with Mrs Reeve and Sophie. The others were anxious to hear about her trip to the hospital and also to tell her about the art lesson which she had missed.

It wasn't until nearly bed time that she was able to tell the others. The occupants of dormitory one were brushing their hair, cleaning their teeth, sorting out their clothes and otherwise getting ready for bed. "I talked to Mrs Reeve on the way back" said Sam, trying to keep her voice casual, "somebody did tell on us but she wouldn't tell me who".

"Did she give you any clues?" asked Kipper hopefully.

"None what so ever" said Sam, who couldn't help smiling at Kipper's endless optimism.

"I bet it was Sophie Wentworth" said Lauren "she's always struck me as being sneaky. Well when she isn't flattening people anyway".

"It wasn't" said Sam firmly. "I saw her on my way to dinner and she told me it wasn't her".

"And you believed her?" said Charlotte sceptically.

"Yes" said Sam in a tone that left no room for doubt.

Absolving Sophie of all blame didn't put Sam that much further ahead. The list of suspects was still impossibly long and included most of her friends. She was beginning to think that Lauren's suggestion of dropping the matter had been the product of practicality rather than any desire to steer suspicion away from herself. She found that the only person she really trusted on the matter was Kipper. Unfortunately Kipper was just as clueless as her.

It was Natasha who claimed to have solved the problem. She took Sam aside one morning. "Look Sam, I hate to suggest this to you but I think Lauren must have been the sneak. The day before we got caught by Mrs Reeve she went off by herself at the end of lessons. There wasn't a lacrosse practice that day and I don't think she went to the library or anything because she spent the evening doing prep with the rest of us. I know she's your cousin and everything, and I don't know she did it but I'm quite sure it was her".

Sam sighed disconsolately; she didn't want to believe that her own cousin was the culprit but the evidence seemed to be mounting. All through the next lesson she glanced sideways at the girl, trying to detect any sign of guilt. Lauren first affected not to notice her, perhaps wanting to leave her to puzzle out whatever was troubling her, but eventually she turned to Sam and whispered to her in exasperated tones "what is it? Have I grown an extra head or something. Oh God, I haven't got a massive spot appearing have I?"

Sam shook her head and mumbled an apology, that she was just in a funny mood which had nothing to do with Lauren. Lauren rolled her eyes and turned back to the board. Sam was ticked off for not paying attention. She would have to confront her cousin before the whole thing finally drove her totally round the bend.


	9. Chapter 9

At least it wasn't public. As the girls went to drop off their books in their dormitories before lunch Sam was thankfully able to capture Lauren in the cloakroom and pull her into the North Tower laundry room on the pretext of looking for a lost sock. Lauren asked her what she hoped to achieve, being as Sam had done her washing two days ago and any socks she might have lost would doubtless have been eaten by the lost-sock monster or added to Matron's stash. She also grumbled about having to wash her non-uniform clothing rather than sending it to the laundry with her school stuff.

But when Sam turned to look at her Lauren realised it wasn't a matter of lost socks at all. "What do you want?" she asked, "you've been in a funny mood all morning. Come on spit it out".

Sam swallowed nervously and then the words came tumbling out. "I've heard that it was you that sneaked on us. You went missing the day beforehand and then, when Mrs Reeve came to catch us, it was you she went to for confirmation".

Lauren's face underwent a rapid change of colour from white, to red to purple. "HOW DARE YOU? HOW CAN YOU? I'm your cousin not some girl you met two months ago. You've no evidence except lies somebody told about me and an unfortunate co-incidence. I can't believe you'd be so mean!"

Sam had a short temper (it was something of an inherited trait) and she flew into a rage. "Well IF you are such a close and loving cousin of mine, Lauren, then why are you dancing about everywhere celebrating the fact that you've got my place in the lacrosse team? And why do you keep saying we should drop the whole sneak affair? I don't know what you've got against me, or everyone else in our form, but I know what I've seen and heard".

Lauren swore loudly and lashed out in anger, slamming her foot into the washing machine which resounded with a hollow boom. "That isn't fair. If you'd been in the team would you have spared my feelings? And if the best you can come up with, so far as the sneak business is concerned, is to accuse me then clearly you are nowhere near the real solution!" With that she turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, limping painfully.

Sam sank down on top of the washing machine and buried her face in her hands. She had never seen Lauren so angry but she knew what the other girl was like when her honesty was questioned. Very like she had been just now. She remembered when their cousin Ben had broken a window. Lauren had been accused of that and had reacted in the same way – furious indignation. (Ben had been found out when his father overheard him boasting to his brother Oliver). So she probably was innocent. Almost certainly in fact. And Sam had proven it by driving her away, perhaps forever.

She sat there for what felt like most of the afternoon, sobbing quietly to herself. The first years had games after lunch but because of her wrist Sam was excused games and so nobody came to look for her. Almost everyone else was in lessons and none of the sixth formers who had a free period had decided to spend it doing laundry. Eventually though Sam realised she would have to pull herself together in time for the last lesson of the day which was music.

Lauren didn't turn up for music. Kipper said that she had hurt her foot playing lacrosse and had gone off to the san to have it looked at. The other girl must have noticed Sam's tear stained face and her pre-occupied manner but said nothing until they were sent off to the practise rooms in pairs to work on compositions. Kipper grabbed Sam as her partner and hauled her off to the furthest practise room. She closed the door firmly, sat Sam down on one of the stools and looked at her anxiously.

"Spit it out then Sam. What on earth has happened between you and Lauren?"

Sam wanted to say 'nothing' that she had been upset by something totally different and had no idea why Lauren could be so angry. But she couldn't lie to Kipper even if she'd wanted to. So she told her the whole story. Of how Natasha had told her of Lauren's strange behaviour, of her existing suspicions, of how she had confronted Lauren and how Lauren had actually hurt her foot. Kipper listened in silence, growing steadily more pale.

"Well I didn't like to say anything to you Sam but I suspected Lauren too. I was trying to think how I could investigate her without you finding out. So I suppose I'm back to square one. Which is a far smaller problem than patching things up between the two of you". She paused thoughtfully "which of course will be horrendously public unless we can get out of this lesson and find her in the San or something".

Footsteps sounded in the corridor. The mistress was coming and they hadn't prepared anything! Sam looked around in panic. Kipper smiled at her and said quietly but very cheerfully "I've been feeling ill all afternoon you know Sam. Too ill to work really. But the worst thing is that I've just fainted". With a good wink, and a colossal amount of noise, Kipper collapsed to the floor!

The footsteps sped up and the door was flung open by the anxious looking mistress. Lauren was lying on the floor looking suitably groggy. The mistress was by her side in a flash. "Are you ok?" she demanded urgently.

Lauren hauled herself to a seating position, using Sam's leg as a support "oh err yes. Ok I suppose. I've been feeling a bit wonky all afternoon and I guess I just flaked out. No idea why". She pulled herself to her feet and shook her head, as though to clear it, "I'm alright now. Honestly".

The mistress looked at her and made a swift decision. "San! Now! Sam you take her there". Sam nodded obediently and the two girls set off, Kipper was careful to walk with slow and wavering steps until they were safely away from the music rooms. Sam grinned at her in delight. "I had no idea you were such an accomplished actress".


	10. Chapter 10

The San occupied parts of the two lowest floors of the range of building that ran between West and North Towers. On the ground floor was a waiting room, offices for the staff, and two treatment rooms. Above them were the sick rooms where girls went to be nursed through minor illnesses. When they arrived in the waiting room Kipper and Sam found Lauren sitting on a chair with an ice pack on her foot. She glared menacingly at Sam but before anyone could say anything the nurse began questioning Kipper who allowed herself to be led off to one of the treatment rooms for examination.

Sam sat down next to Lauren rather hesitantly. "I'm sorry" she said, anxious to speak before her cousin could, "I shouldn't have believed Natasha like that. It doesn't matter what the evidence was, not that there was much, you are my cousin and I shouldn't have accused you like that".

Lauren smiled thinly "I should have been more considerate about celebrating my place on the lacrosse team. I should have realised what it meant to you". She grinned "you are my cousin after all". She held out her hand to Sam "I'm not saying I forgive you or anything but I want us to be friends again. We both were stupid". Sam took the proffered hand and shook it.

"Stupid enough to do things like kicking washing machines you mean?" she asked playfully.

Lauren smiled, a real smile this time, "yes stupid things like that. Guess who isn't playing lacrosse for Malory Towers this week?"

"You haven't broken your foot have you?" asked Sam in concern.

"Probably not. I'm just waiting for Mrs Reeve to finish her lesson so she can take me for an x-ray. She must be loving our family this term".

Sam glanced at her watch there was still 30 minutes of the lesson to run and, as there was no sign of Jenny or the nurse, the two of them could have a chat. "Well now we've established your innocence, who do you think the sneak is?"

Lauren scratched her head. "I don't know. I don't think we'll find any more evidence either. We need a new tactic".

"What do you mean?"

"Well if we can't find any evidence then maybe we should look for people who are acting guilty"

"Sounds like a plan. How does it work?"

"Well you thought I was guilty because I wanted to drop it. So that's obviously a sign of guilt. Then maybe we should look for people who are a bit too keen to investigate others".

This seemed like a far superior plan to the current one of looking for evidence that didn't exist. Sam told Lauren so and the two of them sat there thinking things over. Before long they were interrupted by the re-appearance of the nurse. "Well there doesn't seem to be much wrong with your class mate" she told Sam cheerfully. "But I'll keep her here overnight in case something develops, I do like to be sure". She glanced up at the clock "there isn't much point in you going back to your lesson but you had better go anyway so you can take your books and Jennifer's back to your dormitory. I'm sure Lauren will be fine on her own until Mrs Reeve gets here".

Sam nodded obediently and headed off for the music rooms. She felt quite like dancing, true she had no idea who the sneak was but she knew it wasn't Lauren and that the two of them could be as close as they'd ever been. She felt truly ashamed at how she had treated her cousin but this was rather pushed to the back of her mind.

By the time she arrived back at the music classroom the rest of the form were already beginning to pack up their books ready to leave. So it was easy for her to busy herself and answer no questions. She decided to hurry back to the dorm, dump everything there, and go for a walk before tea. A nice peaceful walk with nobody else to interrupt her thoughts. She would have skipped tea but having had no lunch she was starving and was not prepared to wait for dinner!

Fortunately tea was a grab it and go affair served from the house kitchen and Sam was able to grab a slice of carrot cake and a mug of coffee and escape to a quiet corner of North Tower to consume them rather than joining the rest of the first years who tended to congregate in their common room. The cake deserved to be savoured, it had a rich and creamy icing and tasted delicious. But Sam bolted it down and hastily returned her mug and plate before rushing down to the cloakroom, grabbing her coat and heading into the grounds.

She couldn't put her finger on why she felt such an urgent desire to be alone but it was undeniable. Even on such a wintry and increasingly dark December evening. Sam stomped around the grounds for about twenty minutes before giving it up as a bad job and retreating to the warmth and solitude of the music practise rooms. So much had changed in the two hours since she had last sat in one of them! Driven by a combination of obedience, and a desire for privacy that could only be ensured by appearing to occupy the room legitimately, Sam practised piano although she had no real idea what she was playing. Within five minutes of leaving the room she would have been unable to tell anyone what she had been doing at all.

When she entered the dining room she found Lauren already there, a pair of crutches resting beside her seat. Sam moaned in despair but Lauren grinned at her. "Don't panic. It isn't broken just badly bruised. I've to keep off it for a few days and no more lacrosse for the rest of term". Becky scowled and muttered something about the team being destroyed one player at a time and Lucia muttered something about poetic justice.


	11. Chapter 11

The following day was Saturday, Kipper 'escaped' from the San in the last part of the morning and hastened to North Tower. She found Lauren and Sam sitting in the dormitory chatting, the rest of the girls were absent. "Have you two patched things up then?" she asked.

Sam nodded, "just about thank you".

Kipper grinned "good. I hoped you had when I didn't hear you killing each other but it's nice to be sure. I got so bored in the san, you wouldn't believe how dull it is in there".

Sam smirked at her "well you probably don't notice that if you're actually ill".

The three of them laughed loudly. Lauren told Kipper about the situation with her foot and then the three of them settled down to discuss Lauren's plan for catching the sneak. Kipper thought it was an excellent plan and asked if there were any suspects.

"Lucia" said Lauren, "I heard her say me hurting my foot was poetic justice so she might be trying to draw attention away from herself".

Sam nodded, "yes she said something to me about you taking my place in the team. Could be she's trying to divide us".

"She'd have a motive too" pointed out Kipper, "jealousy – she isn't in our form and I don't think hers has as much fun".

That was a reasonable body of evidence but as none of them were very close to Lucia they didn't know of any occasion on which she might have gone to tell on them. Nor, in truth, could they point to any suspicious behaviour or proof of jealousy. Before they could mention any other suspects the bell went for lunch. The three of them went off together, Kipper walking slightly ahead so as to clear a path through the crowded corridors for her wounded comrades.

Everyone was very jolly at lunch because some people had seen boxes of Christmas decorations being brought out of storage! It seemed that in the afternoon everyone would be able to help decorate the school if she wanted to. Apart from all the excitement it also meant that the end of term was drawing nearer, as was Christmas itself. Even lunch had a vaguely Christmassy feel with big bowls of thick soup made of left over food from the past few days which, as Izzy said, was just like the week after Christmas when one seemed to find oneself living off the remains of Christmas dinner.

The afternoon was great fun. Every girl in North Tower, from the smallest first year to the largest and most solemn sixth former, seemed to be charging around carrying tinsel or baubles or some other decoration. The TV room, dormitories and even the clock room were heftily garlanded. Tinsel wound round banisters and decorations were pinned to every notice board. In each of the common rooms a magnificent tree had been placed.

Because of Lauren's foot she Kipper and Sam had decided to keep to the common room where there would be less walking and being trampled on. Sam moaned that her wrist wouldn't be up to all the work but Kipper told her it would be excellent physical therapy and to shut up and get on with it. They started off by pinning tinsel along the edges of the shelves which took quite some time. By the time the got round to decorating the tree Natasha had joined them.

"Hello you three" she said enthusiastically, "can I help you with the tree? Everyone else seems to have gone rampaging round the classrooms".

"Of course" said Sam, "shall we start at the top? Angel or star"?

They decided on the star which they carefully placed at the top of the tree. Then there were silvery chains which they wrapped carefully round it. Finally they began to add red and green baubles. As they worked they chatted in a desultory manner about lessons and prep and what they were doing in the holidays. After a while Natasha said rather curiously "so you two have patched things up then?"

"Oh yes" said Sam "turns out you were totally wrong about Lauren being the sneak".

"Was I?" said Natasha sounding rather troubled "Golly! Well in that case I really am very sorry for doubting you Lauren. Will you shake hands and make it peace between us?"

Lauren glared at her but nodded "I suppose so. But you could have saved a lot of trouble by coming to me with your suspicions rather than sending Sam after me".

"Yes I suppose so" said Natasha apologetically. "But coming to you wouldn't have helped me much with my investigations. I mean if you had been the sneak you would have denied everything".

"True" admitted Lauren, and held out her hand to Natasha who shook it firmly.

"That's it" said Kipper encouragingly, "tis the season of peace and good will". The four of them laughed loudly.

A few moments later the rest of the North Tower first formers began to troop in exhausted from their school decorating labours. They admired the tree before collapsing onto sofas and into armchairs. "I hope there's a good tea" said Izzy, "I'm starving after all this work and I want to do some of my prep before dinner and I can't work on an empty stomach".

They all sat around chatting and reading until the tea bell went at which point everyone except Lauren trooped off to the kitchen. Clearly it was going to be tricky for her to carry hers whilst using crutches and so Izzy and Charlotte had volunteered to bring it back for her. It turned out to be an excellent tea. Hot chocolate for a change (normally there was only tea, coffee or squash) and, in honour of the season, mince pies were on offer although chocolate brownies were provided as an alternative.

They sat around the common room eating and drinking and then most of them decided they had no energy to do anything before supper except sit and play board games. Some people went off to do their prep and a few hardy souls went for a walk but most of the North Tower first years arranged themselves around the huge Snakes and Ladders board. Snakes and Ladders gets rather complicated with eight people playing and is very time consuming as rather loud and competitive. Finally though, just as the bell began to ring for dinner, Poppy (who was in dorm 2 and Wilshire form) reached the finish square.


	12. Chapter 12

The following day was Saturday, Kipper 'escaped' from the San in the last part of the morning and hastened to North Tower. She found Lauren and Sam sitting in the dormitory chatting, the rest of the girls were absent. "Have you two patched things up then?" she asked.

Sam nodded, "just about thank you".

Kipper grinned "good. I hoped you had when I didn't hear you killing each other but it's nice to be sure. I got so bored in the san, you wouldn't believe how dull it is in there".

Sam smirked at her "well you probably don't notice that if you're actually ill".

The three of them laughed loudly. Lauren told Kipper about the situation with her foot and then the three of them settled down to discuss Lauren's plan for catching the sneak. Kipper thought it was an excellent plan and asked if there were any suspects.

"Lucia" said Lauren, "I heard her say me hurting my foot was poetic justice so she might be trying to draw attention away from herself".

Sam nodded, "yes she said something to me about you taking my place in the team. Could be she's trying to divide us".

"She'd have a motive too" pointed out Kipper, "jealousy – she isn't in our form and I don't think hers has as much fun".

That was a reasonable body of evidence but as none of them were very close to Lucia they didn't know of any occasion on which she might have gone to tell on them. Nor, in truth, could they point to any suspicious behaviour or proof of jealousy. Before they could mention any other suspects the bell went for lunch. The three of them went off together, Kipper walking slightly ahead so as to clear a path through the crowded corridors for her wounded comrades.

Everyone was very jolly at lunch because some people had seen boxes of Christmas decorations being brought out of storage! It seemed that in the afternoon everyone would be able to help decorate the school if she wanted to. Apart from all the excitement it also meant that the end of term was drawing nearer, as was Christmas itself. Even lunch had a vaguely Christmassy feel with big bowls of thick soup made of left over food from the past few days which, as Izzy said, was just like the week after Christmas when one seemed to find oneself living off the remains of Christmas dinner.

The afternoon was great fun. Every girl in North Tower, from the smallest first year to the largest and most solemn sixth former, seemed to be charging around carrying tinsel or baubles or some other decoration. The TV room, dormitories and even the clock room were heftily garlanded. Tinsel wound round banisters and decorations were pinned to every notice board. In each of the common rooms a magnificent tree had been placed.

Because of Lauren's foot she Kipper and Sam had decided to keep to the common room where there would be less walking and being trampled on. Sam moaned that her wrist wouldn't be up to all the work but Kipper told her it would be excellent physical therapy and to shut up and get on with it. They started off by pinning tinsel along the edges of the shelves which took quite some time. By the time the got round to decorating the tree Natasha had joined them.

"Hello you three" she said enthusiastically, "can I help you with the tree? Everyone else seems to have gone rampaging round the classrooms".

"Of course" said Sam, "shall we start at the top? Angel or star"?

They decided on the star which they carefully placed at the top of the tree. Then there were silvery chains which they wrapped carefully round it. Finally they began to add red and green baubles. As they worked they chatted in a desultory manner about lessons and prep and what they were doing in the holidays. After a while Natasha said rather curiously "so you two have patched things up then?"

"Oh yes" said Sam "turns out you were totally wrong about Lauren being the sneak".

"Was I?" said Natasha sounding rather troubled "Golly! Well in that case I really am very sorry for doubting you Lauren. Will you shake hands and make it peace between us?"

Lauren glared at her but nodded "I suppose so. But you could have saved a lot of trouble by coming to me with your suspicions rather than sending Sam after me".

"Yes I suppose so" said Natasha apologetically. "But coming to you wouldn't have helped me much with my investigations. I mean if you had been the sneak you would have denied everything".

"True" admitted Lauren, and held out her hand to Natasha who shook it firmly.

"That's it" said Kipper encouragingly, "tis the season of peace and good will". The four of them laughed loudly.

A few moments later the rest of the North Tower first formers began to troop in exhausted from their school decorating labours. They admired the tree before collapsing onto sofas and into armchairs. "I hope there's a good tea" said Izzy, "I'm starving after all this work and I want to do some of my prep before dinner and I can't work on an empty stomach".

They all sat around chatting and reading until the tea bell went at which point everyone except Lauren trooped off to the kitchen. Clearly it was going to be tricky for her to carry hers whilst using crutches and so Izzy and Charlotte had volunteered to bring it back for her. It turned out to be an excellent tea. Hot chocolate for a change (normally there was only tea, coffee or squash) and, in honour of the season, mince pies were on offer although chocolate brownies were provided as an alternative.

They sat around the common room eating and drinking and then most of them decided they had no energy to do anything before supper except sit and play board games. Some people went off to do their prep and a few hardy souls went for a walk but most of the North Tower first years arranged themselves around the huge Snakes and Ladders board. Snakes and Ladders gets rather complicated with eight people playing and is very time consuming as rather loud and competitive. Finally though, just as the bell began to ring for dinner, Poppy (who was in dorm 2 and Wilshire form) reached the finish square.

On Sunday evening Mrs Reeve gathered all the North Tower first years together in their common room for a pep talk. "Good evening everyone. As you know there are only two and a half weeks left of this term. This week, next week - which is exam week, and then the weekend and three more days. This evening I want to talk to you all about the exam week. It's important. You'll be tested in science, geography and history to see what you've learnt this term – the results will be on your report. In maths, English, Latin and French you'll be tested to see what you can do and next term you'll be divided into sets by ability – which will be a mixture of the test results and the work you've done this term. Now you might think that it doesn't matter what set you're in, and to some extent it doesn't. Whatever set you're in we'll make sure you do as well as you can in the subject. But if you do have ability it is best for you to be in the highest set so that you can progress as far in the subject as possible. Of course you can move up – or down – a set over your school career but much better to be in the right place to begin with. So over the next week I want you to make a real effort with revision".

With that she was gone, and the North Tower girls were left looking at each other. "Well I'm going to make an effort" said Poppy "there'll be trouble with my parents if I don't".

Sam nodded, "same here. How about the rest of you?"

Izzy yawned, "well I'm not going to go too mad. I'm top in maths on term's work so I can afford to slip a bit. Top five for English so I should be fine and I'm so bad at French and Latin that I doubt it'll make much difference".

Lauren shrugged "well if I can't play lacrosse or do gym that will give me more time to study. Might as well make use of it".

"That's the spirit" laughed Kipper, "I suppose I had better join the studying crowd too, doesn't sound like there will be much fun this week".

The group broke up muttering, going to the dorm to fetch their books and then re-assembling in the common room. It was decided they would start off by having a quiz contest to see who knew what. Becky took charge "right everybody stand up, we take it in turns to ask each other questions, if you get it wrong you sit down if you get it right you stay standing for the next round. Last person standing wins".

Lucia sighed, "you like everything to be so competitive Becky".

"Well nobody's making you join in" said Sam irritably.

Lucia looked around awkwardly, "I'll join in, it's always good to be one of the crowd isn't it?" Sam and Lauren exchanged meaningful glances which nobody seemed to notice.

The revision quiz was really quite fun. Girls took it in turn to open a book more or less at random and ask a classmate a question based on what they found. Of course the people who had been eliminated soon good bored and took to cheering and booing those who were left in. Eventually Francois won, although Charlotte disputed the result because it wasn't fair to question a French person on French verbs.

The week hurried past. When the girls weren't in lessons they were revising. The entire school was quiet for although school exams didn't start until next week the girls taking A-levels and GCSEs had already started on their module exams. Even the normal meal time chat about lacrosse, holiday plans and pop music had been overtaken by earnest discussions about Shakespeare, quadratic equations and nuclear physics.

For the first years this was all a new experience. They had, of course, taken the Malory Towers entrance papers but those had been relatively simple and they had taken them in isolation. The feverish swotting that had overtaken the school was a new and not very pleasant experience. Even so some of the girls, especially Becky and Izzy, seemed able to retain their normal personalities. But with everyone under strain it was impossible for the three detectives to discover if anyone was acting abnormally. In fast by the time the first exams began on Monday most people seemed to be acting distinctly abnormally.

Charlotte seemed to have woken at some ungodly hour and claimed to have been revising for two hours before the bell went. Francois was studying maths at breakfast time. Poppy turned up to breakfast wearing her slippers rather than her school shoes. Kipper couldn't find her tie despite it being in much the same place as normal. Even Izzy had taken to obsessively sharpening pencils.

The first paper, done on Monday morning, was in maths. Most of the North Tower first years considered this to be a good thing as they wanted to get the subject over and done with. However some girls who struggled with maths, Sam amongst them, wished they could have had longer to study. The questions on the paper were increasingly difficult and Sam couldn't do the last two of them. But most of the others didn't seem too bad and so she was hopeful of getting into the top maths group.

That afternoon they sat the history paper which was really quite easy. Sam couldn't remember anything about Roman buildings but at least she knew the names of the gods and how Roman baths worked. Even so it was a relief to go back to North Tower for tea, even if it meant having to start revising again this time for geography and Latin which were the exams on Tuesday.

The last exams were on Friday afternoon. When they finished it seemed the whole school was streaming out into the courtyards laughing and talking – free at last! To allow everyone to relax the evening was kept free of prep, music lessons and lacrosse training. It was raining hard outside by the time that tea finished and so the North Tower first years were happy to fill the time before dinner with watching TV, surfing the internet or playing games in the common room. There was a good dinner too, fish and chips with fish caught in the waters off the Cornish coast. It was a delicious meal and good fun to relax in the dining room although some East Tower second years got into trouble for throwing peas at each other.

After dinner Sam, Lauren and Kipper went across to the music rooms so that they could talk in private. None of them had given up hope of catching the sneak but they were fast running out of time. There were only five days left in the term! Of course they could continue investigating next term, or for the whole of their Malory Towers careers come to that, but they all agreed that sleeping dogs should be left to lie – if they didn't find the sneak this term they would give up looking.


	13. Chapter 13

Saturday was a very busy day. Girls were rehearsing for the Christmas show, playing lacrosse or going out Christmas shopping. A few wise souls were making an early start on their packing, or at least on tracking down all their belongings. Films were being shown in the big auditorium. Sam and Lauren spent the morning watching the junior lacrosse team who beat their opponents by 4 goals to 2. Becky scored a hat-trick! Sophie stood alongside them also cheering for the team. Miss Fox was surprised to see her chatting happily with Sam and impressed by how much support she was giving the team. She decided that next term she would allow Sophie to re-join the junior lacrosse squad.

In the afternoon a big gang of them went out to the town. They had decided they would have a bit of a party in the common room that evening, and that required food. There was also Christmas shopping to be done. Poppy and Izzy stayed behind at school rigging a laptop and speakers so that there could be music to dance to. Kipper was tasked with removing the Twister set from the third year common room, a task she achieved with aplomb.

That evening the school seemed to be full of noise with all sorts of parties taking place in various common rooms. The mistresses opted to ignore the noise unless things were clearly getting out of hand – such as the lacrosse match they discovered taking place inside West Tower. The North Tower first year party was deemed a big success given that most of the first years in the school seemed to have put in appearance at one stage or another. By the time she fell into bed that night Sam was exhausted. And they still hadn't caught the sneak.

On Sunday everyone seemed to have run out of energy. People hauled themselves out of bed at late hours and mooched around until lunch time. After lunch the common rooms were full of tired girls content with quiet amusements. Most of the North Tower first years were sitting taking in their common room.

"I can't believe our first term is almost over" said Sam.

"Yes" agreed Kipper, "and won't it feel strange to go back home?"

"It's been a great term though" said Poppy.

"Apart from that sneak business" said Izzy "I'd love to know who did that. I bet it was somebody here".

The first years looked at each other as though searching for signs of guilt. In truth although the sneak business had gradually faded from conversation nobody had quite forgotten it. A lot of those present were keen to find out who the culprit was, especially the girls who had been through the Saturday afternoon detention organised by Mrs Reeve.

"Well I don't suppose we'll ever find out who it was" said Natasha in practical tones. "So we'd might as well forget about it. Unless anyone wants to own up of course"? They laughed uneasily looking thoughtfully at each other. Natasha smiled and continued. "Well at least Lauren and Sam are friends again".

"When were they not friends?" asked Lucia, "I did not know they had fallen out".

"Nor did I" said Becky, wrinkling her forehead in conclusion. The other girls looked similarly perplexed.

Natasha seemed to have gone a bit pale. "Really?" she said casually, "I thought you knew? Sam accused Lauren of being the sneak"!

"Only because you told me she was" said Sam indignantly. "Or at any rate you told me she'd gone off on her own the evening before Mrs Reeve found us out".

Lucia looked thoughtfully at Natasha "well Natasha liked to make trouble between you then. Because I do not remember Lauren going anywhere that evening".

"Nor do I" said Charlotte, who looked rather thoughtful.

"Natasha liked to make trouble" repeated Lucia. "I think it was her that said there must be a sneak. Then she says it was Sophie. Then she blames Lauren".

"I do not like to make trouble" said Natasha furiously. "Why shouldn't I say there was a sneak, we all thought it. And I only said it was Sophie because we all thought that. And if anyone likes stirring up trouble, Lucia, it's you. You keep trying to set Sam and Lauren against each other over this lacrosse business".

"Well it isn't my fault Lauren was so cruel".

"I've apologised for that" said Lauren. "And at least I was cruel in public, I don't go standing outside doors like you Natasha. When we came back into the dorm that time, after the game we won 4-1, you must have been stood outside listening to the conversation".

Sam had been finding the whole exchange a bit tiresome, it didn't seem to be much more than a pointless cat fight. Suddenly though, she sat bolt-upright. "Yes and the whole thing that started that conversation was you pulling me aside and telling me that Lucia was trying to split Lauren and I up".

Kipper glared at Natasha. "It was you wasn't it, the whole thing. You accused Sophie, you accused Lucia. You accused Lauren. You keep popping up whenever the matter is discussed. In fact you're more interested in publically discussing it than anyone else in this form. To draw attention away from yourself. You are the sneak aren't you"?

Natasha was red faced with rage now. "Well I don't know what you're so proud of yourself for Kipper. If you made a bit more effort to include everyone in your fun and games then maybe there wouldn't be such a problem with jealousy in this form. All these tricks that you plan with the other girls in Grayling One that are in your dormitory. You didn't care about leaving me out. What was I supposed to do? Accept a life of invisibility"?

It was Natasha, Natasha was the sneak. The girls looked at each other, what should they do about her? Of course Kipper was their leader in most matters but she couldn't be in this, not after Natasha had blamed her like that. "It's true" admitted Izzy "we were leaving you out a bit I guess".

"Don't be so pathetic Natasha" said Kipper. "You could just have said you felt left out, why spoil it for the whole form? We were all having fun".

"It wasn't fair though was it?" said Sam, forcing the words out nervously. "Mrs Reeve said the whole thing was bullying in the first place".

"You see" said Natasha "that's why. Because it was bullying".

"Oh don't be ridiculous" snapped Lucia. "You thought it was funny when it was happening, don't pretend you didn't. You wanted more tricks the same as everyone else. You just wanted the attention on you for a change".

Natasha dragged herself to her feet and ran out of the room crying. "Well that sorts that out then" said Poppy "I don't think there's any more to be said about it".


End file.
